Day By Day

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

I had some reservations about the movie mostly because many of the reviews I had been reading had negative comments about the script/plot. I heard about how the script singles out Corporate White humanity as the embodiment of evil while the good Gaea worshipping druids all sported racial characteristics not normally associated with your typical WASP...

People it's a freaking movie! It's - a - freaking - movie! This is Dances With Wolves on Rigel 9; The same plot updated to fit a sci-fi/fantasy world. Since there is an antagonist needed for the plot line they chose greedy white corporate drones backed up by ex-marine mercs; that works. The protagonist is a non-technological native civilization that's in tune with the spiritual Gaean earth mother; that works too. It's like Al Gore made a Disney movie with tall skinny blue people and set the whole thing in a fluorescent rain forest illuminated by black lights. It's a pothead's dream. This movie borrows from many things that came before it, there are snatches of Aliens, tough Latino marine chicks, construction robots updated for combat, Sigourney Weaver, Dances With Wolves, Running Silent, The Matrix you name it, Cameron has lifted a bit from here and there. There is an ecological undertone to the plot. So what? It's not like we hadn't seen that before how many times? The scenario of an ecological cataclysm isn't exactly a new plot line even if you are freshly loaded up with self righteous loathing for greens after the recent climate farce in Copenhagen. I swear some people would object the a story about Atlantis claiming it was "eco propaganda" or something equally stupid. My advice to the people who are hung up on the plot is get over it; take two suck pills and don't bother me again.

The movie is visually stunning. Period. It may be groundbreaking; It's certainly a thing of beauty to watch and my impression is that it's as stunning today as Star Wars was in 1977; that's 32 years of technology applied in one magnificent 2 hour and 40 minute flick. See it in 3D at a theater, don't wait for the DVD.

I had two criticisms for the movie, and they are both nits. The 3D glasses were not that comfortable fitted over my eyeglasses. In parts of the movie there are near field objects that are out of focus. Perhaps because I wasn't totally comfortable with the glasses over glasses feel I found myself fatigued by attempting to pull those objects into focus and for the first 1/2 hour or so I thought I was going to get a headache; I got over it and just relaxed and went with the flow.

The movie is visually stunning. If this is even close to your thing go see it.

1 comment:

Anonymous
said...

Hey Bro - Thanks for the update I have been wanting to see the movie but I have been avoiding it because of some of the reasons you just mentioned. I do want to see it for the technology leap it is. PS. My son thinks they stole the whole transfer of consciousness thing from the "Old Man's War" book by John Scalzi.

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